[HPforGrownups] Remember Cedric

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 45304

On 13 Oct 2002 at 22:13, Richelle Votaw wrote:

> First of all, that sounds like the makings of a battle cry "Remember Cedric!"  That > note aside, what exactly is Dumbledore getting at here?  Cedric did what was right > (didn't he?), he knew Harry was there first, he wanted him to have the victory.  By > doing that (in addition to Harry's 
goodness wanting Cedric to win) he strayed 
> across Voldemort's path and got himself killed.  Whta would've been easy in his 
> case? To take the cup alone?  And then what would've happened?  It just almost  
> sounds like Dumbledore's telling them if you do what's right and get in 
> Voldemort's way doing it you'll die.  Is that a warning?  I think I know what he's 
> getting at, but it could be taken wrong.  Can someone else share their 
> interpretation?

Apologies if this is less than clear - the reasons will be obvious in a moment - I'm 
not entriely sure how straight I am thinking at the moment.

To me, what Dumbledore is not saying that Cedric took the right path, and not the 
easy one - because, really, Cedric didn't take a path at all in the end - what 
happened to him happened not so much because he knowingly took a choice to 
face a risk, but because he wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What Dumbledore is saying, rather, is that at times, the people in the wizarding 
world may be forced to make a choice - to do what is right (and may be hard and 
painful) or to do what is easy in the short term. And when they are called on to make 
that choice, he wants them to remember Cedric because Cedric shows why the hard 
choice is the right choice.

Yes, if you choose the hard choice, you may be risking pain and death and 
suffering. But the choice is worth it - because you are fighting evil. Dumbledore 
knows from past experience that standing up to Voldemort may well be fatal, and is 
dangerous - but it's also something that has to be done. Sometimes you have to 
face risk, sometimes you have to face death, because what you are fighting for is 
worth that risk, and is worth the cost.

It's something most of us, thankfully, don't have to face in our lives. We're not put 
into the situation where we have to choose to put ourselves at risk to fight evil - but 
in the Harry Potter universe, this is a real and immediate choice - there is obvious 
evil to be faced, and to be fought.

And how do we know its evil - we know its evil by its actions. And which action is 
going to be most real, and most immediate, to the kids at Hogwarts School - which 
one is closest to most of their lives (not all, by any means - both Harry and Neville 
have faced the loss of their parents). For many of the kids at Hogwarts, the fight 
against Voldemort is an abstract - a matter of history. Dumbledore is making it real 
for them - he's making it direct and personal. How better to illustrate to a group of 
children what evil is, and what evil they face, than to ask them to remember the 
vicious and totally senseless slaughter of one of their own.

To me, today, this is very real. Three of my friends are missing in Bali - one is 
presumed to have been killed, as he is known to have been at one of the clubs and 
hasn't been seen since. Making it personal, does change things - I've seen terrorism 
before - I've never felt it the way I do now.

Dumbledore knows his students may have to fight a war. He's trying to ensure that 
when they come to choose which side they are on, they *know* the evil of 
Voldemort and his followers. They know it, they feel it, and they remember it.

In many ways, if Cedric had chosen to fight Voldemort, his death would be less 
tragic, less of a thing to be remembered. It would have been the death of a soldier 
in a sense - tragic, but with meaning in and of itself.

Instead, it's the slaughter of a child, of an innocent.

It's evil - pure and true.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately |webpage: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       |email: drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in
common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter
the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen
to be one of the facts that need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who:
The Face of Evil | Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia